THE TV COLUMN

By John CarmodySeptember 26, 1985

Now Here's the Newshow only so-so numbers for "Hardcastle and McCormick" but a pretty strong 17.8 Nielsen rating and a 29 percent audience share for the NFL game between Seattle and Los Angeles, both on ABC . . .

CBS' movie, "Izzy and Moe," did a 17.9/27 . . . but the two-hour "Family Ties Vacation" on NBC came in with a 22.1/33 to stand out for the evening . . .

Tuesday, overnight ratings in 10 major Nielsen markets showed a big hole in the CBS schedule, as "Hometown" sank to a mere 6.6/10 between 8 and 9, a performance that didn't help "The Other Lover" much, as the CBS movie climbed only to a 13.1/21 over its two hours . . .

ABC's lineup of "Who's the Boss?" (22.0/35), "Growing Pains" (19.2/29) and "Moonlighting" (19.5/29) held up well. But then came "Our Family Honor," which slumped to 14.1/23 . . .

A two-hour "The A-Team" did a 17.4/26 on NBC, followed by "Remington Steele" with 16.1/27 . . .

Milt Clipper, who first joined Channel 9 as a graphic artist in 1969, is resigning his current post at WDVM to start his own firm, Milt Clipper Graphic Design . . .

Clipper has been assistant to the director of programming and marketing . . . No replacement has been named . . .

One of Milt Clipper Graphic Design's first clients will be Channel 9, which has signed a long-term contract for print advertising and corporate design . . .

They're having a farewell bash for Milt today at the station . . .

ABC said yesterday that Peter Jennings and the "World News Tonight" crew will broadcast from Paris for three nights next week, starting on Wednesday, while covering the meeting there between Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and French President Franc,ois Mitterand . . .

CBS News executives, staring at large budget cuts, are still debating whether to send Dan Rather to Paris . . .

And NBC News hasn't decided if Tom Brokaw is going, either . . .

Speaking of NBC News, they announced yesterday that the third outing of "American Almanac" has been scheduled for Monday, Oct. 21, in the 8 p.m. time slot . . .

The magazine show, still looking for a permanent weekly time slot probably starting in January, has tested 10 p.m. on a Tuesday and a Wednesday night in its two previous broadcasts . . .

A 30-second public service announcement sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers union has been accepted by three TV stations here, but a fourth -- Channel 7 -- has turned it down . . .

Tom Cookerly, president of WJLA, said yesterday "we have run PSAs on sexual harassment. I haven't seen the spot but I'm sure it's an excellent one . . .

"But our policy at the station is that we air PSAs for nonprofit or community service organizations or for local or national government services. We don't air union or business PSAs" . . .

According to a spokesman for the union, "tentative agreements" to run the PSA have been reached with channels 4, 5 and 9 . . .

The ad features Vicki Lawrence in her TV sitcom role as "Mama" recalling that "back in my day [sexual harassment] was called 'funny business' " and then reminding victims of sexual harassment they can call their unions or the government now for help because it's against the law . . . Also in the News

Captain Airwaves, known far and wide as a staunch defender of the TV Critics' Code (particularly that paragraph that calls for TV Critics to "selflessly shoulder all blame for mistakes that find their way into TV stories, regardless of origin thereof"), has decided to chuck it this morning . . .

In fact, Airwaves is going to come right out and say that Channel 5 passed on some bad information for the Wednesday column that Airwaves, in turn, unwittingly passed on to TV Column fans . . .

We're talking about those "tryouts" today, tomorrow and Saturday for "Star Search" being held at several sites in the area. Turned out yesterday that the tryouts "are by appointment only" and the public isn't invited . . .

(Serves Airwaves right, him going out and buying a new tutu and all after reading the announcement in his own column) . . .

And how are the various Redskins shows doing on local stations these days? Better than the Redskins, anyway . . .

Last Saturday night, Channel 4's "George Michael/Joe Theismann Redskin Report" at 7 p.m. had a 7.5 Nielsen rating and an 18 percent audience share (a 7.1/19, according to the Arbitron meters) and Channel 9's transplanted "Redskins Sidelines" at 7:30 did an 8.4/18 in the Nielsens and a 6.0/14 in ARB . . .

Monday night, Channel 7's "John Riggins Show" at 6:30 p.m. did a 9.1/16 in Nielsen and a strong 11.0/21 in ARB, while Channel 5's "Redskins Playbook" at 8:30 did a 5.9/9 (5.3/9) . . .

Arlene Sorkin, who plays Caliope Jones on NBC's "Days of Our Lives," was the only soap opera star to win two "Soapies" in the recent Soap Opera Digest award ceremonies in Los Angeles, a taped two-hour version of which will air on WTTG on Oct. 5 starting at 8 p.m. . . .

CBS' new "Stir Crazy" was 32nd, ABC's "Spenser: For Hire" was 34th and its "Hollywood Beat" tied for 42nd . . .

CBS' "Hometown" -- which is almost sure to be the First New Series canceled this fall -- was 47th, ABC's three-hour "45/85" was 50th, and the sixth and last "West 57th" in its current run on CBS was 52nd . . .